Wyatt Earp (1848-1929): Cards And Guns
Earp was born on March 19, 1848 in Monmouth, Illinois. At sixteen, he and his family moved to California where he became a stagecoach driver. This occupation actually exposed him to the vast western cattle trail circuited by newly established railroads. Somewhere in the middle of this great ribbon of steel were the notorious Kansan cities of Hickok's Abilene, Wichita and Dodge. The last place will twice witness of resurgence of Hickok's iron grip; Wichita, however, will serve as an entry point.
In 1870, he returned to Monmouth and married his sweetheart, Willa Sutherland. A few months after marriage, however, Sutherland dies of typhus. Grief stricken, Earp moves to Larrie, Missouri to become deputy marshal, but for only a year. Three years after that, he becomes a bison hunter in Peace Creek, Kansas, meeting Wild Bill around this period.
In Wichita, Earp settles for a while and gets hired as a keno dealer in one of the gambling houses. His ability to establish order and control in this rowdy establishment soon directs him to be deputy marshal of the city. Here, destiny unfolds, breaking the power of the lawless. In 1876, Dodge City looks to him for law and order. They came to the right guy! From an average of seventy killings the year before, Earp yanks it down to a total of 2 in his first year.
Around this time, both legitimate business and opportunists were beginning to take notice of the insignificant Dodge City as being a transit point of Texas cattle traveling by rail to the East. Originally the city was established by saloon owners and liquor dealers. The advent of Earp and his deputies gave the city some self-respect it sorely needed. His stay in Dodge City was particularly significant in that he meets and irons a lasting friendship with one Bat Masterson, who would play a vital role in the story of frontier justice.
Because of Earp and his pals, Dodge began experiencing an influx of migrants. One of these was a practicing dentist named Doc Holliday. In a battle with Texan cattle rustlers who entered Dodge City one day, Holliday, dealing cards at one table, came to sight one would-be assailant coming up behind Earp with a drawn gun. Holliday quickly dispatches the cowboy.
Along with Masterson and his brothers, the Earp brothers, and Doc Holliday, Wyatt became a nightmare to the outlaws, from Kansas to Tombstone, Arizona. But what decorated their lasting friendship were the sessions upon sessions of poker games that they also came to be known for.
After his law-enforcing days Earp returned to gambling to support himself, particularly when he was on the run as a fugitive for killing Frank Stillwell, whom he suspected of killing his brother. After that operated a saloon in Nome, Alaska during the state's gold rush, then moved to Tonopah, Nevada in 1901 and operated a gambling hall and - you guessed it - saloon.